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Robotics Hardware

Build Your Robot Online 170

Posted by michael from the have-it-your-way dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ever needed a custom part for a robot, case mod or hardware hack but lacked the tools or a machineshop to make one for you? Ever needed a custom circuit board? Well, PC Magazine's Bill Machrone writes about a few websites, Emachineshop and Pad2Pad, where you use their free software to design, price, and order anything you can design with the software. This is more useful to slashdotters than 3D 'printing' technologies like rapid prototyping since you get real working parts. It looks like they support a number of machines and fabrication techniques beyond traditional machining, like plastic injection molding and waterjet. As Machrone says, this is empowering stuff. This is something that should ignite a creative spark to all you hardware tinkerers out there in Slashdot land."
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Build Your Robot Online

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  • My girl robot. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:49PM (#9722883)
    /nerdy laugh
  • We now have a new source of fresh meat for robot wars!

  • Great news! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Alcimedes ( 398213 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:52PM (#9722895)
    Man, there have been a number of times that I've been trying to build something, and ended up with the hacked HomeDepot route.

    It involves going to said Mega Store, browse through their crappy selection (3 items, but 200 of each) and then beating the snot out of it back at your house to try and make it do what you want.

    I really hope that this technology stays in the hands of people who love to build and tinker, and doesn't just end up the "Next big thing" for some retail chain. I have a feeling it would wipe out the variabilty like it has in everything else they touch.

    • Re:Great news! (Score:5, Informative)

      by JABoyce ( 42269 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:56PM (#9722924)
      I have used emachineshop on a few occasions. Mostly for machined aluminum parts for a motorcycle. Its a great service. Easy to design and order. I am surprised /.ers didnt come across this a long time ago.

      Well maybe its my fault, I found them about a year a go, and didnt tell anyone here

      Sorry :-{

      • What what what? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I have used emachineshop on a few occasions. ... I found them about a year a go

        January 8, 2004 eMachineShop today announced the pre-opening of their new online service [emachineshop.com]

        • Well, I think there is a naming issue here. I know nothing about emachines but the "pad2pad" site uses a software that was available from another discounted PCB fabricator (the name is escaping me tonight.) It's likely that emachines is just another name for some business that has been around for a while and this grandparent poster just recognized their website design or design software.
      • I've been using prototyping services since college. Nothing like 3d molding or other such things, but basic circuit board stuff.

        I took one look at an embedded board with the design to expand the ram via bank switching and decided this was going to be really messy no matter how good I was able to do the layout.

        So, I grabbed a layout program recommended by a company I found online and eventually sent them my board design.

        I was half expecting the professor to piss and moan, but he didn't.

    • Not so great :( (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      System Requirements for Pad2Pad: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
      eMachineShop: Requires Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, or XP. 6 mb.

      This is free (free beer) but not open source.
    • Yeah this is great news. I wish I had known about this place a while ago. I'm always having to build custom mounts and stuff and no longer have access to a machine shop. The convience factor far out weights the price point on some things.
    • It will be interesting to see this develop as the next 'DRM' intellectual property war..

      "That is an 'illegal' unlicenced wingnut ... you're busted."
      • Don't worry, if this becomes popular, there will be enough "underground" machine stores more than willing to machine a part or two for cash, no questions asked. Remember the cost of the machines going steadily down, the hordes of outsourced engineers, and the poorly paid employees of various workshops, willing to make a part on the side and pocketing the profit (or perhaps sharing it with the workshop boss).

        Never underestimate the power of the black market.

    • I built a large (think four tractor-trailers) machine to semi-autonomously extract precious metals and gemstones from gravel and loose rock. I looked at buying one, but they cost from $250,000 on up. So I did some research and decided to build my own. That's when I discovered salvage yards.

      Not auto salvage yards, but places like the Governments DRMS [dla.mil] (Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service) and other places where over orders or non-completion resulted in "I" beams, sheet metals, hydraulic pumps and mot

    • I've never actually ordered any parts from them, but if you're looking for free (as in beer) technical drawing software, eMachineShop rocks.

  • Way cool (Score:2, Insightful)

    by JoeShmoe950 ( 605274 )
    I've always had ideas and then lacked the mechinical ability to construct them. I can finally build tons of junk. If only it were free...

  • A good use for the net (Score:5, Interesting)

    by techno-vampire ( 666512 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:58PM (#9722933) Homepage
    There must be tens of thousands of people out there trying to build some home-brew device needing custom designed parts. Most of them can design them (or get them designed) but few have the resources to get them made. Something like this will give them the chance to make their ideas and dreams come true. I wonder how many inventors have failed simply because they could neither buy or build the one thing they needed to get their idea to work. Only time will tell, of course, but I'd bet this will be a great help to people who's imagination goes further than their skills can follow.
    • Exactly what I was thinking. I've got piles of, well 'designs' isn't the word.., but all kinds of 'sketches' of stuff that would be cool to build - if only I had a bigass workshop and the needed skills.. As you say, a lot of people must have all kinds of uses for services like this.

      My solution way back as a teen, was having a cool dad (working at a large factory with access to some mean machines and the skills to use them).

      We messed around with all sorts of designs that he took to the shop and tried t

    • Re:A good use for the net (Score:4, Interesting)

      by HeyLaughingBoy ( 182206 ) on Saturday July 17, 2004 @06:10PM (#9727368)
      but few have the resources to get them made.

      No, not really. Or at least, maybe I don't understand what you mean by "resources." Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, there are usually local machine shops that can build most things you'd want as long as you can pay for it.

      For custom PCBs, there are dozens, if not hundreds of shops that take files emailed/FTPd and will product your custom board for under $100. In fact, this is one benefit to overseas outsourcing: one of the most popular and hobbyist-friendly outfits is Olimex in Hungary (I think) that I've heard is insanely cheap and has 1 week turnaround. They take Visa/MC

      For metal/plastic stuff, just go to your local machine shop/metal fab outfit. As long as you can make legible drawings, most people are within a few miles of a shop that can do this work. Just check the Yellow Pages!

      The real benefit of places like eMachineShop is that they provide tools that directly interface with their workflow, so they can give you rapid quotes and since they're online, it makes it easier to compare prices. For 10 years or so, smaller PCB outfits have had the free Easytrax PCB layout program available for download from their site with instruction on how to send them the output data.

      Quite a benefit, I agree, but often local shops may be better. I once designed a mounting plate for an 8,000 lb winch for my offroading truck and it was a great help to be able to take the drawings and have the shop foreman look them over and offer suggestions for improvement. This was also a fairly chunky bit of steel (40 lbs or so!) that I wouldn't have wanted to pay to ship.

  • Intriguing idea... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by FirstTimeCaller ( 521493 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:58PM (#9722934)

    Well it's still a bit pricy (eMachineShop) -- figure $50 to $100 for a simple one off part. But it certainly is an interesting idea.

    They claim that their software and service is accessible for neophyte 3D designers. I certainly fit into that category. As soon as I get some spare time [flips through calandar...], well someday, I'll download the software and play around with it. It costs nothing to experiment and get a price quote.

    Same with the circuit board design site. I've got a couple of designs that I've wanted to put together some boards for. If nothing else the thought of free schematic design software is appealing.

    I can't help but think that this is the future of jump starting small businesses...

    • Re:Intriguing idea... (Score:4, Informative)

      by realdpk ( 116490 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:04PM (#9722966) Homepage Journal
      Their pricing drops dramatically for more parts. It's not much more expensive to get them in quantities >100.

      The software is buggy, however. Crashes whenever I try to do file->open. I can't seem to figure out how to create objects, either, heh.

      What I want is something like this, but with the Rhino interface. eMachineShop is supposed to be able to import a "universal format" (dxf I think?) that Rhino can write, but as stated before, file->open doesn't work so I can't test it.
    • I have a Daweoo and getting parts for it is sometimes not easy. I wonder if they could machine a replacement brake shoe or fender for me? (I have grave doubts I could supply them with the specs, though...)
      • First car I owned was a 64 t-bird. It had a blown power steering hose and Ford didn't make them anymore. I found a small local hydraulics shop that crafted a custom hose for a couple of dollars. I'm skeptical that you could get custom brake shoes given the potential libility issues, but I'll bet there are lots of small local metal shops that will bend you a new fender, no pun intended.
        • I'm skeptical that you could get custom brake shoes given the potential libility issues...

          Workaround: don't tell them what the part is for and hope they won't care. Optionally also use a machining shop that doesn't work much with car parts, which lowers the chance of meeting somebody who both cares and knows what it is.

      • Given the success of the tv shows American Chopper and Monster Garage, I wouldn't be surprised if this company gets a ton of business from newbie hot rod designers.

        (By the way, your sig loses points for failing to mention Natalie Portman, hot grits, goatse, and AYBABTU. A good effort nonetheless.)

  • Pricing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nacturation ( 646836 ) <nacturation&gmail,com> on Friday July 16, 2004 @06:59PM (#9722943) Journal
    Can someone more familiar with machining comment on their samples prices [emachineshop.com]? It seems a little expensive for the pieces they list. I can imagine something much more intricate would cost a small fortune. Granted, the prices go down with quantity but most hobbiests aren't going to order 100+ pieces of a part.

    • Re:Pricing (Score:5, Informative)

      by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:16PM (#9723022) Homepage
      As a hobbyist machinist, I think the prices are about right. Certainly for some easy stampings, anyone with a half decent shop could turn out the design pretty quickly and much cheaper. For a machined or lasered part, you're talking about multiple man hours for even the simplest design.

      Their multiple item prices are pretty reasonable. Remember - these aren't production items or prices - they're R&D. I imagine that aside from the occasional well heeled hobbyist, small companies who need to prototype something rapidly and relatively cheaply would have a field day with this service.

      That said, if they were to drop thier prices to where the "mass" of hobbyist robotics fans / modelers / Star Trek freaks could just play with creating fun things, they could get awfully busy.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Pricing (Score:4, Insightful)

      by LesPaul75 ( 571752 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:39PM (#9723138) Journal
      It's interesting that for three out of four of their "sample parts," the price for ordering ten is basically the same as the price for ordering one. I mean, it's like $65 versus $80. I guess it makes sense... Doing the initial setup is probably the expensive part. Just stamping out nine more of the same thing doesn't require much more than the cost of the material.

    • Re:Pricing (Score:3, Interesting)

      by thpdg ( 519053 )
      These prices are inline. The company I work for has a machine shop, and you see that even the simplest parts take time to make. When the guy doing the work is making $15 an hour, or more, it adds up quick.
      We started ordering out for some parts from local machine shops, and the prices are about the same as these.
      Even with my existing resources, I'm sure I'll take advantage of these 2 sites.

    • Re:Pricing (Score:2, Insightful)

      by qwasty ( 782400 )

      First off, I am a machinist.

      There are several other companies that do exactly what emachineshop.com does, and you can probably find them listed somewhere at Modern Machine Shop [modernmachineshop.com].

      I prefer to either buy Chinese, or work with a small local shop that can cater to my needs. The small local shop will probably be very expensive though. A part that costs $200 from emachineshop or similar, could (but not always) cost double that from a smaller local shop.

      Machine shop rates in the USA have been around $60 to $90

    • I've only had a small number of mechanical stuff quoted, but the prices are not out of line. Most of the cost in small quantity is usually setting up the machinery/CNC tooling etc. Their prices are about what I'd expect to pay.
  • Sorry...

  • Recommended reading (Score:3, Informative)

    by fiannaFailMan ( 702447 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:04PM (#9722964) Journal
    See also: Robot Builder's Bonanza [amazon.com]. Lists where you can actually get your hands on stuff.

  • ExpressPCB (Score:5, Informative)

    by Darth Yoshi ( 91228 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:08PM (#9722980)
    Since we're discussing PCB companies, I'll mention ExpressPCB [expresspcb.com]. They not only have a free PCB design program, but also a free schematic design program.

    Windows only, deal with it.

    • Re:ExpressPCB (Score:4, Interesting)

      by wass ( 72082 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:49PM (#9723212)
      You beat me to the punch, I was just about to post the same thing.

      I've used ExpressPCB (at the advice of my brother) and not been disappointed. They're pretty cheap, and the product is pretty nice. I used them to build a simple two-layer board (without solder mask), and it was IIRC only $80 for two. Pretty cheap, especially considering the time and annoyance it would have taken me to hack something together with perfboard or wet copper-clad etching instead. And it looks professional too.

      For simple projects, for $51 you can get 3 two-layer boards (as long as they're a specific size). That's a hard price to beat.

      I've seen their ads in electroncis mags for a few years now, and it always seemed kind of shady to me for some reason. But I was pleasantly surprised.

    • Re:ExpressPCB (Score:2, Informative)

      by tzanger ( 1575 )
      Alberta Printed Circuits [apcircuits.com] has been doing this for probably close to a decade now. Great boards, great prices, fast turnaround. You can use whatever PCB layout program you want (I was using OrCAD and Eagle) and like I said... they just work.
  • Depending on their closed source Windows only app for designing things is a deal breaker. To make it "easy to use" it has to be crap for a skilled computer user. The sort of people they would be aiming at. Plus the Windows only requirement eliminates me instantly.

    But notice how both sites are obviously the same company. I think we just saw a sponsored story, not on /. but PC World.

  • I, Reboot (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Courtesy of the Windows operating system.
  • Is a place that you can tell you ideas to and they can tell you what kinda circuit board you need and what parts it needs on it.

    Anyone know any place like that?

  • Emachineshop has a neat little CAD program (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:12PM (#9722999) Homepage
    EMachineshop offers a neat little CAD program. What's unusual is that it knows what their shop can manufacture, and enforces design rules. It also prices the job automatically. Unlike most machine shops, EMachineshop does sheet metal work, with CNC punching and bending. Try it out. Design a sheet metal box.

    EMachineshop still has substantial setup costs, but the production costs aren't too bad. Price quantity 1 and quantity 10, and see what you get.

    Another useful resource is Front Panel Express, which makes flat panels with holes and lettering.

  • My Robot will have... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Intelligence
    Sense of humor
    Social skills
    Similar interests
    Kindness and generosity
    Compatible belief system
    Good looks
    Earning potential

    oh, and big knockers.

  • Fear factor (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Peter777 ( 797002 )
    For people like me, who have lots of great ideas (you'll just have to trust me on that one), but no training in how to make them a reality and somewhat of a phobia about going out and dealing with real people, this could be a really great thing, like wheelchair ramps or tin openers that're easy to use (the latter is still to be invented methinks). The accessibility of this system could potentially cause a huge increase in innovation as people who previously were intimidated and/or didn't know where to begi
  • I wonder if they would ship certain centrifuges made from aluminum to countris like Iran or North Corea. On a more seriouse note so, how do they make sure that their services are not used for unlawfull purposes?
  • While i admit i didnt read TOO far in depth.. i didnt see any obvious info for pricing @ the e-machine shop...

    Plus what about security, that they wont just run off with your design?

    At least dealing with a machine shop in person, its a bit safer and you get a real cost estimate up front.
    • Dont bother flaming... now i see that their software gives you the quote...

      But the security still is a concern.
      • If you're worried about security, you won't be using a service like this and if you ARE using a service like this and worried about security, you are an idiot.
    • While i admit i didnt read TOO far in depth.. i didnt see any obvious info for pricing @ the e-machine shop...

      I guess that big link on the left which says "Pricing" escaped your attention? :)
  • Since we're on the topic of pet projects, has anybody ever built their own, fully-featured fibre channel backplane? I've looked on google for designs, but to no avail...
  • Do these two clown companies think they are selling hardware or software? They have a great hardware idea, but why ruin it all by requiring their proprietary Windows-only "easy-to-use" software?

    They are giving the software away anyway, so why don't they go open source? And use a standardized documented file format? They could get help from they community with enhancing and fixing their SW. Ports to Linux and Mac would be possible if there were interested users. Most people designing stuff already have CAD
    • They do support CAD drawings if you bothered to investigate.
    • Boo fucking hoo fucking whiny goddamned Slashdot fucking pussy. You ever think they DON'T FUCKING CARE about your fucking geek ass? You ever think they're more worried about getting their fucking job done than masturbating over the latest Stallman article? You ever think that maybe, just maybe, not everyone is some stupid fucking zealot that needs to turn software into a fucking religion because they're such inept social retards that their computer is the only thing that keeps them sane? Fucking moron.
      • Hey, you forgot to add:

        RTFA, because they take a dfx file, NERRRD!

        Seriously. I STOPPED using linux because of slashdot! That, and because a simple java Swing app on my LinuxPPC distro would cause the box to FREEZE. And didn't come with inetd.
      • Have you, or the parent considered that maybe, just maybe, they didn't know about free/opensource?

        You may both be in error assuming that they're scoffing free/opensource. We can all agree it isn't their priority, but perhaps if a polite person could introduce them to the benefits, and settle their fears, they would be willing to investigate.

        Either way, you're both zealots as evidenced by your assuming that everyone knows what is, essentially, common knowledge amongst a very small subset of computer users
    • They are giving the software away anyway, so why don't they go open source?

      And invite all their competitors to come in and turn it into a price war, thereby inviting a ton of new competitors who undercut them because they didn't have to go through the expense of having such an application developed for them? Please explain why any company in their right mind would do this!

    • Do these two clown companies think they are selling hardware or software? They have a great hardware idea, but why ruin it all by requiring their proprietary Windows-only "easy-to-use" software?

      Yeah! Great idea! Why don't Amazon open-source their software too? Oh, wait it's because it's their fucking business. Hadn't you noticed that increasingly businesses use custom software and the sucessful ones have the best custom software? Without their software (and patents) Amazon are just another box shifter.

  • distilled with custom milled distillery and temperature monitor boards crafted for the purpose

  • Open-source Hardware (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cgreuter ( 82182 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:34PM (#9723118)

    Y'know, this sort of thing is perfect for open-source hardware projects.

    Typically, if a group wants to develop a Cool New Machine, they can do the actual R&D online with CAD software and possibly build a few prototypes. However, once the design is actually done, there's nowhere else to go with it unless they can convince some hardware manufacture that it'll sell enough to justify a production run.

    But now, they just need to convert the design to whatever format Pad2Pad uses and put it up for download. Anyone who wants one just needs to send in a copy and a credit card number and they're done.

    This could lead to some interesting new hardware.

    • Wouldn't it be much cheaper to setup a website where individuals can order the parts, and then to combine all those orders into one big order? It'd be much cheaper than having loads of one-off orders with the accompanying setup and handling costs.

      Yes, I'm Dutch ;-)

  • About Pad2Pad... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:35PM (#9723121)
    I work in the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) industry, and I've looked at the Pad2pad website before. The problem with them is this - they give you software to create a board in, but it only outputs in their proprietary format. That means your design can only be fabricated by pad2pad, not by anyone else. So, once you've designed in their software, you are locked into ordering boards from them. You cannot order them anywhere else unless you re-design it in another software package.

    There are older DOS freeware PCB layout packages called easytrax and autotrax available from Protel [protel.com], as well as a free 30 day demo of their latest. There is also a Linux PCB layout package available. [jhu.edu] These packages output gerber data, which is the industry standard data format for circuit boards. It is also an open format (rumor has it /. people like that sort of thing). This means that you can send your design to any PCB shop in the world, and they can read it as easily as you can work with a *.bmp.

    You can even send your gerber data to pad2pad, and they can make your board from that, though they would prefer if you used their software. After all, if you don't, you'll be able to get the boards make somewhere else if you don't like their service.

    And that would be so unfashionable - doncha know proprietary lock-in is all the rage these days?

  • A different approach (Score:5, Interesting)

    by synaptic ( 4599 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:36PM (#9723126) Homepage
    I've been reading about how to build a Gingery Charcoal/Gas Foundary [lindsaybks.com] and homemade metal-cutting lathe [lindsaybks.com]. Today I finally ordered the books from Amazon.

    "All you need is an old metal, 5-gallon pail, about $6 worth of fireclay, some sand, a junk auto heater fan with a coffee can shroud (or a vacuum cleaner), and this book to build a high temperature furnace."

    You can use it to melt aluminum, zinc, and bronze which you can then pour/cast into sand molds. The nice thing is that you can assemble the lathe accurate to .001" or greater without needed precision parts, and learn a ton in the process.

    Once you've done that, you can cast any other parts you want and machine them to your specifications for far cheaper than using this service. If you didn't make the part quite right, no worries, melt it down and recast it.

    I'm planning to build this to machine parts of hobby sterling and steam engines and the ability to construct precision prototypes whenever I have an idea about something. No more tin cans, balsa wood, and RTV sealant! Yay.

    Lots of other people have websites chronicling their projects [backyardmetalcasting.com] based on these books.
  • I think this will be a great tool for researchers at universities and companies. No longer will you have to contact the hardware group, beg and plead, and wait forever just to make a simple prototype. Instead, just send a simple an online order, and they will deliver the prototype to your doorstep.

  • Circuit boards at home? (Score:5, Informative)

    by northstarlarry ( 587987 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:42PM (#9723153)
    What's difficult about doing circuit boards at home? I've made a couple.

    You can buy "blank" boards, covered completely in copper on one side. I did the design in Illustrator, printed it out on a laser printer, and transferred the laser ink to the copper. The ink works as a good resist for the ferric chloride etching solution, which is also cheap and easy to buy.

    Then you get a shallow dish that you're not planning on using again (some old tupperware, e.g.), and swish the board around until the extra copper's gone. A 100-watt lamp keeps the ferric warm and makes everything go a little faster.

    The etching doesn't take more than half an hour, and the projects I've built have worked well.

    • Sure, I've made a couple too. But the fun for me is not swishing stuff in the soup. It is designing the board and building the widget. I'd just a soon keep the nasty chems out of my garage, thank you. And I'd rather spend the etch time on the software or whatever.
    • Ah nice, sounds like a good method for building one board to get something working, but if you end up building something really nifty, and what to show a few prototypes around, or sell a few to others online, being able to print off 100 boards could be quite handy.
    • I tried making my own a few years back, but I didn't have a printer back then. I used a special pen instead and although the circuit worked, it looked like a work of Picasso. I've stuck with using veroboard since then.

      How did you transfer the image to the board? Most of the methods I've seen involve printing the circuit on a transparent sheet and overlaying that on the board - then exposing the whole thing to UV light before putting it in the etching fluid.

      The transparent sheets are rather expensive, no
      • You can buy transparent sheets suitable for this purpose at most electronics shops (real ones, not Radio Shack...) for at most $1 a sheet. Then you can print on to it with a laser printer or use a photocopier. You can then use a regular clothing iron to iron on the ink to the board. I made tube amplifier circuit boards this way and it worked really great.

  • Ph34r my l33t Honda Civic! (Score:4, Funny)

    by LesPaul75 ( 571752 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @07:48PM (#9723191) Journal
    Imagine the new level of car mods that will be possible! Their material list includes carbon fiber, right?!?!
  • I have not used pad2 pad or emachinesop but I have used pcb123 and express pcb with good results. PCB123 is very basic while express pcb is full of time comsuming features.
  • To do anything advanced you need proper design tools and more capable fabrication plants.

    Unfortuantely because no one can sell this software to the mass market and they generally don't trust people to not buy a version which can't be used to produce commercial works the software licences come in in between 5000 dolars and 10,000 dolars :/

    As a now un-employed graduate, I couln't afford the tax on that, let alone the software itself.

  • Pad2Pad isn't ready for prime time (Score:3, Informative)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Friday July 16, 2004 @11:29PM (#9723440) Homepage
    The advantage of Pad2Pad is that they don't just make a blank board, like all the other online board shops. They make the blank board, order the parts, place them, and solder the board. This is a huge win, because you can do surface mount jobs.

    If only it were real.

    I downloaded their program and tried it. Unfortunately, the list of available parts is a joke. There are only a few ICs. It's just a sample. I'd thought the idea was that you could order anything in the Digi-Key catalog, but no. You're limited to one pull-down menu of parts. They don't even have a consistent range of resistor values; there are wierd gaps.

    They're expensive, too. I laid out a tiny board with two connectors and a voltage regulator. They want about $100 for the blank board, $50 extra to mount the voltage regulator.

  • Laser cutting is cool (Score:3, Informative)

    by cosyne ( 324176 ) on Saturday July 17, 2004 @02:26AM (#9723870) Homepage
    One of my favorite things in grad school was the laser cutter in the mech E dept. I was happy when i found Pololu [pololu.com] which does laser cutting for $2.50 per minute. Actually having a CAD system like this is brilliant, though.
  • For all you "Synthetic Lifeforms Assembled for Sabotage and Harm/Devices Optimized for Troubleshooting", don't forget CyborgName.com [cyborgname.com]. Not only will it make a robot for you out of your own name, it will print you up one on a mug or a T-Shirt.
  • There is also that guy who says that you can build a "decent" robot for about 50$ [coredump.cx].

  • I am a robot builder (Score:5, Informative)

    by chroma ( 33185 ) <<chroma> <at> <mindspring.com>> on Saturday July 17, 2004 @08:17AM (#9724580) Homepage
    I build robots for competitions like BattleBots [battlebots.com], Robot Battles [robotbattles.com], etc.

    Emachineshop seems to be a bit limited in the parts they can make. I prefer to use the services of the fellow robot builders at Team Whyachi [teamwhyachi.com]. They don't mind handling small quantities and have great prices.

  • If you can put together a decent drawing package for your parts, local machine shops might also bid the part - and possibly be more competitive. If you can find a small shop that is a bit slow on work, they will often pick up small jobs just to keep the machinists and machines working. It never hurts to get multiple quotes.

  • Another PCB site (Score:2, Informative)

    by LankyBoycie ( 726969 )
    http://www.pcb-pool.com/ [pcb-pool.com] recommended by my electronic engineer colleague.

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